WEST LAFAYETTE, IN, August 27, 2004 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- Materials made from particles one-millionth the
size of a fine-point pen tip are touted daily for their current uses
and dreamed of possibilities, but a pressing question remains as to the
environmental impact of manufactured nano-sized materials.

Purdue University scientists are investigating the interactions between
these tiny, many-sided structures and the environment. To further this
research, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) have awarded grants totaling nearly $2 million
to the Purdue Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team and a colleague
from the University of Minnesota.

"This is one of the first major studies solely interested in the
environmental fate of carbon-based manufactured nanoparticles," said
Purdue's Ron Turco, principal investigator on the project. "We will
test Buckyballs and other manufactured nanomaterials in all types of
soil and in water to determine their effect on the environment,
including any toxicity toward bacteria and fungi that are key
indicators of damage to the ecosystem."

Buckyballs are multi-sided, nano-sized particles that look like hollow
soccer balls. The full name for the cluster of carbon atoms is
Buckminsterfullerene, after the American architect R. Buckminster
Fuller. His design for the geodesic dome is much like the shape of
Buckyballs, also known as fullerenes.

First found in a meteorite in 1969, Buckyballs are the third naturally
occurring pure carbon molecules known. The others are graphite and
diamonds. Experts say that tiny carbon-based manufactured nanotubes are
100 to 1,000 times stronger than steel.

In 1985, researchers began making Buckyballs, which led to a Nobel
Prize. These are among the carbon-based manufactured nanoparticles the
Purdue scientists will study. Other studies are delving into various
aspects of all types of nanoparticles.

"We want to know what would happen if these materials enter the
environment in either high or low concentrations," Turco said. "What
happens when they get in the soil or the water? I don't think there
will be a problem, but we need to have data."

The scientists will investigate not only the manufactured
nanoparticles' affect on the environment, but also the environment's
affect on them. Using techniques that they employed in assessing the
environmental impact of other materials such as pesticides, they will
examine how bacteria and fungi in soil and water contribute to the
degradation of manufactured nanoparticles.

Other studies are delving into aspects of naturally occurring
nanoparticles.

The research team, which was formed by Purdue's Environmental Science
and Engineering Institute, will conduct their work in laboratory
settings using all types of soil and water, said Turco, an
environmental microbiologist in the School of Agriculture.

Nanomaterials already are used for stain-resistant slacks, sunscreens,
cosmetics, automobile paint and bowling balls. In fact, the Eastman
Kodak Co. and other corporations began employing nano-sized material as
early as the 1930s. Kodak's use of the material was nano-silver for
film coating.

Scientists are testing sensors that use nano-scale materials for
detecting biological weapons and other pathogens that may cause
disease. Researchers also believe that stronger-than-steel materials
made from carbon-based nanotubes could produce the next generation of
electronics and even tougher bulletproof vests. Drug delivery and food
production may be revolutionized by nanoparticles, which derive the
nano part of their name from the Greek meaning dwarf.

The National Science Foundation funding is a four-year, $1.6 million
grant for the research team's Response of Aquatic and Terrestrial
Microorganisms to Carbon-based Manufactured Nanoparticles project. The
EPA is providing $365,000 over three years to study implications of the
materials on soil processes and aquatic toxicity.

The project is composed of five parts handled by seven researchers. The
Purdue researchers are Turco, Department of Agronomy; Bruce Applegate,
Department of Food Science; Natalie Carroll, Department of Agricultural
and Biological Engineering and Department of Youth Development and
Agriculture Education; Tim Filley, Department of Earth and Atmospheric
Sciences; and Chad Jafvert and Loring Nies, both of the School of Civil
Engineering. Robert Blanchette, of the University of Minnesota's
Department of Plant Pathology, also is on the team. Turco and Filley
also are members of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center.
Applegate is a member of the Center for Food Safety Engineering.

The project components and researchers involved are:

Determine the degradability and solubility of carbon-based
manufactured nanoparticles in soils and water - Jafvert.

Examine how microbes in the soil react to and alter themselves due
to the presence of carbon-based manufactured nanoparticles - Nies,
Filley and Turco.

Determine how carbon-based manufactured nanoparticles are broken
down in the soil, how long the degradation takes, and how the change in
their chemical structure during this process affects soil toxicity and
processes - Filley, Blanchette and Turco.

Educational outreach to promote public awareness and understanding
of nanoscale science and its applications - Carroll.